


Sweet Child of Mine

by ishouldbeworkingrightnow (notjustalittlegirl)



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Catelyn is Not Being Nice, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not Catelyn Friendly, Pre-Canon, Toddler Jon, Toddler Robb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-16 15:25:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11255712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustalittlegirl/pseuds/ishouldbeworkingrightnow
Summary: "I’m sorry that I made Robb’s mama angry. Do you hate me, Papa?”“No, Jon! Papa doesn’t hate you, Papa could never hate you! I love you so much, Jon!"Jon calls Catelyn something he shouldn't have.





	Sweet Child of Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about this...  
> Also sorry about the title. You probably know where it comes from... WHERE is my originality when it comes to making up titles??
> 
> I don't own ASoIaF, GoT, or the characters. I am making no money from this. Disclaimers. Please don't sue me.

“Look, Mama! Look what I did!”

Robb’s proud little voice made Catelyn look up from her sewing to see that her son had made it to the top of the toychest, a feat he’d been trying to accomplish for weeks now. At just under three, her toddler son had already become determined and fearless.

“Great job, baby!” Catelyn clapped encouragingly, and watched with a proud smile as Robb wobbled his way down from his perch, barely avoiding falling onto the floor. As soon as she was certain that Robb was firmly back on solid ground, Catelyn looked back down at her sewing. 

When his brother made it unsteadily back to the ground, Jon Snow clapped happily at Robb’s accomplishment, and then grabbed onto the sides of the toychest to try and climb it as well.

It took Jon several tries to get a good grip on the box, and his face began to wrinkle with an adorable determination that would have melted even a White Walker.

“You can do it, Jon!” Robb encouraged in a small but already authoritative voice, and after a few more tries Jon was able to heave his little body onto the box.

“Look!” He said joyfully in Catelyn’s direction, hoping that she would look up and praise him as she had done Robb. 

She didn’t even spare him a glance, not bothering to look up from her sewing even when Robb squealed for her to “look what Jon did!”

Jon hadn’t let Cat’s ignoring him thusfar dampen his joy at finally climbing the toy chest, and was still giggling giddily at the newfound thrill of being a foot and a half taller than usual. However, he still wanted the woman to notice that he’d done it just as well as Robb had.

“Mama, look!”

The words flew out of his mouth in a matter of a second, and Catelyn’s head jerked up just as quickly.

Her mouth gaped for a second with astonishment at the nerve of this bastard boy, whom she hated, who somehow got the idea in his head to call her “mama.” She stood, letting her sewing fall forgotten to the floor, and stalked over to the toddlers with an icy glare on her face.

Upon reaching the oblivious bastard, still grinning proudly at his accomplishment, she seized him by the back of his neck and forced him to look directly into her eyes, and yelled so loudly that those bustling around in the courtyard below grimaced sympathetically at the plight of Jon Snow.

“ ** _I am not your mother!_** ”

When she let go of him, Jon was trembling, and his joy had dissipated into nothingness. His lip began to wobble at the same time as his legs, and he tumbled from the toy chest and fell into a heap on the cold stone floor.

Robb’s eyes were sparkling on the verge of tears and he reached out to Jon, who had begun to cry violently, both in fear of Catelyn and in pain over the bruise quickly forming on the left side of his body.

Jon didn’t stay, picking himself up from the floor and flying from the room as fast as his little legs could carry him. Once he was gone, Robb’s face twisted and he finally burst into tears as well.

Cat picked her son up off the floor, and sat him down in her lap as she tried to calm his tears.

* * *

 

Nothing in Winterfell stayed a secret from Ned Stark for long. He heard in a matter of minutes, upon his return from a visit to the Godswood, that his bastard son was missing. He didn’t even bother asking Cat where he’d gone, once he passed Rodrik Cassel and heard him whisper that he’d heard her yelling at the boy.

Ned wouldn’t normally be worried about Jon, but when someone said that it had been hours since the boy was last seen, he started to feel the stirrings of panic.  Even for a child as resilient as Jon, that was a long time.

An order was immediately given to search each and every corner of the keep for the little boy, and Ned himself went to look in the child’s room and all surrounding rooms. There was no sign of Jon, not even in any of the cupboards that he was so fond of hiding in to fool his nursemaids.

After what felt like an eternity of searching, but was likely only an hour or so, Jory Cassel came running into the room. “M’lord! I found your son!”

Ned turned around, ready to snatch Jon out of Jory’s arms, only to find that he was not there.

“Then where is he, Jory?”

“He refused to come out, and he was too far back in the cupboard for me to reach him! Maybe he'll come out for you.”

Ned hoped so. 

“Lead the way, Jory.”

Ned followed Jory as quickly as he could down hallways and around corners until he could finally hear the sniffling of a child.

As Ned approached the closet, the tearful noises got louder, and his nostrils caught the faint scent of urine. His heart swelled, both in sympathy and love for the terrified toddler, and anger at his wife, for the mutterings of the servants and others had made it obvious this was her doing. 

“Jon,” he said quietly, crouching down in front of the cupboard where Jon was hiding. “Do you want to come out?”

The baby shook his head, and retreated further back into the cupboard. Ned turned to Jory.

“Jory, would you please go and tell everyone to return to their duties?”

The other man nodded, and retreated back around the corner. Ned slowly moved closer to the closet and knelt just outside the door.

“Okay. If you don’t want to come out, then would you tell me why you’re hiding?”

“I was bad.”

That comment made Ned’s heart twist even further in anger at Catelyn, but he hid it as well as he could from his voice as he next spoke to Jon. He didn’t know exactly what had happened, but he had a feeling that it didn’t have much to do with Jon’s behavior.

“Really? Why do you think that?”

“I don’t know!” Jon wailed. “I j-just climb-bed on the b-box and t-told Mama to look! Then s-she yelled at m-me!”

“Oh,” Ned gasped quietly, suddenly realizing what must have happened. “I’m sure you did a great job climbing, Jon. Do you want to come out now?”

Jon shook his head again, but moved a little bit closer to the entrance of the closet. Ned had to overcome the strong desire to reach in and snatch up Jon, but he didn’t want to scare the child any further.

“Papa,” Jon whispered with a trembling lip, and looking like he was about to start crying again any second. “Does Mama hate me?”

Ned didn’t know what to say. How does one explain the concept of bastards to a toddler? The only thing he could think to do was to reach his arms out for Jon and hope he came willingly into him.

“No, baby. She’s angry at me, and she’s hurting you because of it. But, look at me Jon. You cannot call her Mama anymore. Ever. I’ll tell you why when you’re older.”

“I’m sorry that I made Robb’s mama angry. Do you hate me, Papa?”

“No, Jon! Papa doesn’t hate you, Papa could never hate you! I love you so much, Jon! Please come out, Papa needs a hug from you.”

The promise of a hug, and Ned's assurance that he did not hate him, was what finally coaxed Jon out, and he toddled out of the cupboard into Ned’s waiting arms. Ned picked him up and cradled him against his chest, ignoring the wetness in Jon’s lower half as he tried to comfort the little boy.

Jon's thumb, filthy from his time in the dusty old cupboard, found its way into his mouth as he leaned his head against Ned's shoulder. His eyes were already drooping, and Need figured that the exhaustion of the day, combined with the relief of being in his father's arms, would knock Jon out within minutes.

Ned was reluctant to put Jon down, even for a moment, so therefore decided that he would dispense with Nan for the night and put the boy to bed himself. 

Walking through the keep to Jon's room was the easy part, but when the time came to put the toddler down in order to change him out of his wet clothes and into some more appropriate for sleeping, Ned began to have problems. 

Jon did not want to let go. When Ned tried to put him down, Jon whimpered and wrapped his hands even tighter around Ned's neck. The easiest course of action would be to let Jon sleep in his wet clothes, and put him down once he was out, but even Ned and his rudimentary childcare skills knew that would end up giving the boy a rash.

Despite the fact that it broke Ned's heart to seen fresh tears spring to his eyes as his Papa let go of him, he set Jon down on a table and changed him as quickly as he could into some clothes which had not been soaked with urine for who knows how long?

When he was done, he instantly wrapped Jon in a soft blanket and scooped him back into his arms. Jon quieted, and Ned felt better too, having the boy close to his chest as Jon nodded off to sleep with a soft sigh of 'papa.'

* * *

Once Ned had deposited a sleeping Jon in his bed and sent up a silent prayer that the boy wouldn't wake before he returned, he tiptoed from the room and went to search for Catelyn.

He found her close by, in Robb's room. Upon Ned's entry into the room, the toddler jumped out of bed and ran to hug his father's legs.

"J-Jon..."

That was all Robb managed to say before he burst into anxious tears. Ned picked his son up and cradled him.

"Jon's quite alright, Robb. I promise. Now, you best get to sleep." 

When Ned had put his other son back to bed with a kiss to the forehead and a reassurance that his brother was fine, he grabbed Catelyn's arm and pulled her from the room as gently as his rapidly rising temper would allow.

Once they were a safe distance away from Robb's room, he whirled on her. 

"What. Happened?" 

"Your bastard called me mother." 

There was cold fury in her voice, fury that Ned knew was directed at and meant for him but had been shown to Jon. As horrible as Ned felt for his wife, as horrible as he knew he would feel if he thought Catelyn had been unfaithful to him, his anger at the way a helpless and innocent child had been treated trumped everything.

"He's a babe, Cat. A  _babe._ He doesn't even know what a bastard is, much less that he's one. He didn't know any better!" 

Before Catelyn could get a word in to defend herself, Ned continued.

"You can hate me for the rest of your life, curse me, go off and fuck Petyr Baelish or whoever the hells you want, but I'll be damned if I let you treat Jon like you did today!" 

When he paused, panting from the exhaustion that was emotion, and listened to the echo of his words bounce around the stone halls, he noticed a glittering on Catelyn's face out of the corner of his eye. 

"I wish I could hate you, Ned." 

Despite the anger he still felt towards her, Ned opened his arms and pulled his wife into them. She cried gently onto his shoulder, and he patted her orange hair gently. 

"Oh, Cat. I'm so sorry." 

They stood together like that for a moment, until Ned slowly pushed his wife towards their room and turned back to go to Jon's. 

"Get some sleep, Cat. I'm sleeping in Jon's room tonight."

**Author's Note:**

> Update: Hi. Hello. How are you? I have received multiple comments as of now saying stuff like "Catelyn never abused Jon" "cersei is so much worse" and the like, and they are pissing me off. Keep in mind that this is fanfiction, key word FICTION, meaning NOT TRUE. There is no mandate telling me to make all my fanfiction friendly to Catelyn fucking Tully, or to like her. If you are a Catelyn fan, what the fuck are you even doing reading this??


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